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'Off the Wall' Facebook ecommerce solution launches

US digital agency Resource Interactive has launched Off the Wall, an 'ecommerce experience' for brands and their fans on Facebook. Off the Wall allows Facebook users to purchase products directly from a brand or user stream without leaving the Facebook environment and, the company says, "several of the agency's Fortune 100 clients have signed on to implement brand-specific versions of Off the Wall in the 2009 holiday season."

With Off the Wall, brands and retailers can post an item for purchase as a status update to their Facebook page. In turn, fans can purchase the product directly from their live feed, news feed or the brand's wall. They can also share the status update with their friends and its ecommerce functionality is maintained wherever it appears in Facebook.

"It makes sense from the perspective of both the brand and the fan," says Dan Shust, director of emerging media at Resource Interactive's research and development lab. "It gives brands an opportunity to reward their fans with privileged shopping access to hot items or time-sensitive deals. It also addresses the on-demand consumer's desire to engage in and share relevant brand experiences without leaving their social networking environment."

Off the Wall features include a fully customizable look and feel, a complete in-wall checkout process (product details, customer information and shipping options), ecommerce platform independence, a PCI-compliant hosted environment and a 'performance-based compensation model'.

"Not only is enabling Facebook users to shop from the feed without leaving the experience ground-breaking in itself, but the sheer network effect is also worth considering," adds Shust . "The average Facebook user has 130 friends. If a brand with 100,000 fans published an Off the Wall ecommerce update, its merely one click away from being shared with 13 million Facebook users. Imagine the possibilities for the holiday season and beyond."

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